JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University is saddened by the passing of former athletics director and women's basketball coach Alice De Fazio, who passed away on February 25 after a battle with Pancreatic cancer. She was 63 years old. 
 
De Fazio, a member of three athletic Halls of Fame, spent 11 years as Director of Athletics for the Gothic Knights from July 1, 2007 through her retirement on March 1, 2018, and combined contributed 27 years of service to the institution in two different stints. 
 
After retiring, she spent the 2018-19 season as Director of Player Personnel for the University of Michigan women's basketball program.
 
On September 28, 2006, she was inducted into the Jersey City Sports Hall of Fame in honor of her outstanding high school and collegiate basketball career. She was inducted into the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame in January 1998 and the Montclair State University Athletic Hall of Fame on April 17, 1994. On March 5, 2007, she received the Outstanding Associate Athletic Director/SWA Award from the All-American Football Foundation. 
 
"We are saddened by the passing of Alice De Fazio," said Shawn Tucker, Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics. "She left an 11-year legacy as Director of Athletics at NJCU and we continue to build upon the academic commitment and community outreach that she took pride in. We thank Alice for her 27 years of service to this athletics program and extend our deepest condolences to her family and her many friends in the Jersey City and basketball communities."
 
De Fazio served 14 years over two stints as head women's basketball coach, and is the winningest coach in school history with 108 victories.
 
In her career at NJCU, De Fazio served as head women's basketball coach, senior women's administrator, assistant director of athletics, and associate director of athletics. She was appointed as the Interim Director of Athletics on July 1, 2007, succeeding Lawrence R. Schiner, who held that position for 30 years and was named to that role permanently in April 2011. 
 
Among her most notable accomplishments as director of athletics were the introduction of the Athletic Academic Retention Program (AARP), which was credited with increasing the retention of student-athletes and raising individual and team grade point averages. NJCU, in conjunction with its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) also developed and participated in many community outreach initiatives, both on and off campus.

Athletically, De Fazio was instrumental in bringing the NCAA National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship to the Northeast Region for the first time as NJCU hosted the national championship event in April 2010. She served as the Tournament Director in the first-ever national championship that the University has hosted in its history. NJCU appeared in three NCAA women's bowling tournaments (two Final Fours) and won the 2011 New Jersey Athletic Conference men's basketball title, reaching an NCAA Tournament during her term as athletic director. She also supervised upgrades to NJCU's indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, including the addition of air conditioning to the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center gymnasium in June, 2015. Men's golf was introduced as a club sport before being elevated to varsity status in 2010-11. 
 
During the 2007-08 academic year, De Fazio represented NJCU as President of the NJAC. She was chair of the NJAC's women's basketball sport committee and served on the league's awards committee. She served on the NCAA Regional Selection Committee and ECAC Metro Selection Committee for women's basketball.
 
She was originally appointed assistant athletics director and senior women's administrator in August 1995, before being elevated to the associate athletics director role on August 26, 2003. In that role she was NJCU's eligibility and compliance officer. Other administrative responsibilities included assessment and department reports and purchasing, in addition to serving as the liaison for all head coaches and chairing committees.
  
De Fazio has been involved for years in the furthering of women's athletics. A long-time member of the New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (NJAIAW), she served as President for two years from 2004-06. She was on the executive board of the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), serving as secretary from 1999-2003, and was the basketball liaison.
 
De Fazio completed her final year as NJCU's women's basketball coach in 2004-05, guiding the Gothic Knights to a 14-13 record and an appearance in the Association of Division III Independents Northeast II championship game.
 
De Fazio originally came to then-Jersey City State College in 1982 as highly successful collegiate star Alice Schmidt, and proceeded to guide the Gothics to a record of 35-39, including a pair of 13-victory, back-to-back winning seasons during the three-year stretch from 1982 through 1985.
 
Following the 1985 season, she left to take an assistant coaching position at Division I Seton Hall University from 1985-87. De Fazio returned to Montclair State College, her alma mater, where she guided the Red Hawks to a two-year record of 27-16 from 1990 through 1992.  She also served for two seasons as head coach at Jersey City's St. Dominic Academy (1988-90), posting a 36-22 ledger.
 
De Fazio returned to NJCU in 1994 and served as interim women's basketball coach for the 1994-95 season, before being elevated to Assistant Director of Athletics and Head Women's Basketball Coach that summer.
 
As a collegiate women's basketball player, De Fazio finished her career as Montclair State's all-time leader in both assists and steals. She still is the all-time leader in assists with 630 from 1976-80 and 5.6 per game assists average in 112 career games also stands to this day. Her record of 345 steals was broken in 1997.
 
But what she will be most remembered for as a player is her role as a sophomore starting point guard in 1978, on a team that featured all-time great Carol Blazejowski. That year, she helped the Indians to the first Final Four in the history of women's college basketball.  Montclair State fell to eventual champion UCLA by just eight points at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California on March 23, 1978 before claiming a 90-88 overtime victory over Wayland Baptist the next day in the consolation game for third place in the nation. The silver anniversary of that Montclair team was celebrated before an NJCU/MSU game on February 5, 2003.
 
In 1980 she was nominated for the Wade Trophy as the top player in women's college basketball, finishing as a finalist to Nancy Lieberman of Old Dominion, the only two-time winner in history. That same year, she participated in the New Jersey College North-South All-Star game.
 
De Fazio still possesses the records for first and third most assists in a single-season in MSU history. In 1979, she established the school record with 208 dishes, and attempted to break it as a senior in 1980, before finishing with 176. Her average of 8.3 assists per game in 25 games in 1979 is also a school record and led the nation that year. When she graduated, she also set the single-season mark with 98 steals in 1980, a record that stood until 1993.
 
In June 1980, she was selected in the second round of the Women's Professional Basketball League draft by the New York Stars. When the Stars folded, the talented playmaker was signed as a free agent by the San Francisco Pioneers, and was subsequently traded to St. Louis, where she finished the 1980-81 season.
 
DeFazio was a 1980 graduate of Montclair State with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She owned a 2010 Masters in Sports Management from American Public University.
 
At St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, she earned All-Hudson County honors three times and to the Prep All-America team as a senior. She was twice a team captain, and earned All-State distinction in her senior season when she became a 1,000-point scorer (1,096 total).
 
De Fazio was married to the late Bill De Fazio, the winningest girls' basketball coach in Hudson County history at Marist High School and St. Anthony's, together forming the "first couple" of Hudson County basketball. Bill De Fazio also died from Pancreatic cancer at the age of 63 on November 17, 2010.
 
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